Exports Books

Discovery is an entertaining and educating read about the world that we have forgotten so easily. It would be nice to know what didn't make the final version before print, however, what is written is refreshing and well done. Stegner makes you realize how influencial anyone can be.

I enjoy very much this book that presents, well documented, all the difficulties and problems faced by the group of geologist and engineers, looking for oil, who did the initial contract, exploration and evaluations in Saudi Arabia, and the efforts and ingenuity used to solve them. An excellent consultation book for earth scientists and studious of the oil industry.

...of this book written by Philip L. Fradkin in the San Francisco Chronicle lead me to Stegner's work. Fradkin's article was not actually about the CONTENT of the book so much as the circumstances surrounding its commissioning and publication. The conclusion is stated in his review's title: that the work should have stayed "hidden", that is, not published at all, and that would have been a real tragedy.

The circumstances surrounding the work's publications are covered quite well by Thomas W. Lippman in a Foreword to the work. It is clear that Stegner was paid by the corporate predecessor to ARAMCO to write an account of the first days of oil exploration in the Kingdom. It is also clear that certain "politically sensitive" portions of his work were revised or deleted, and that his consent to this process was obtained. Like many others, I would love to have read the unexpurgated version, but the only choice is the one available, with some "punches pulled," some "sensitivities" glossed over. Ah, if there were only similar type Forewords that explained the background and biases of the numerous "Saudi-bashing" books that have been published.

In reading this book I could not help think of Edgar Snow's "A Journey to the Beginning." Snow was fresh out of journalism school, went to China for a short period, but stayed over 13 years, and in the process met, and later portrayed the creators of modern China, Mao Tse-Tung and Chou En Lai. Snow's work remains essential if one is to understand one of the most important countries in the world today. Stegner's circumstances were considerably different than Snow's, but he too had unique access, and produced a portrait of some of the characters who "were attendants at the birth of a world." (page 151). There are the delightful descriptive nuggets of a great writer, such as "...he saw all the stigmata of great hurry, great expansion, the pipeline heading our for Ras Tanura..." Stegner's assessments and conclusions concerning one of the more contentious relationships in the world today, between the United States and the very heartland of oil and Islam, Saudi Arabia is worthy of reflection and consideration: "... which is the one consistently disseminated by hostile propagandists, reflects one aspect of the emergent unrest that has turned much of the Arab world away from the United States. It must be challenged, for unwilling as a democracy may be to take its own side in an argument, and meekly as it may believe the worst interpretations of its own motives, American oil development in the Middle East has been, all things considered, responsible and fair." (Introduction xxv)

I read Stegner's work immediately after having read the "flip side" of these momentous events, one Saudi's account of the creation of ARAMCO, AbdelRahman Munif's "Cities of Salt." Both works are essential for understanding one of the most important relationships in the world today - and it would be a real tragedy if either were suppressed, as Fradkin advocates in the case of "Discovery!" Suppressing books should be something that "other countries do," not the United States.

America and the Middle East. Who would have thought our country's future would ever be so linked to events in that troubled region? Our children's lives, our grandchildren's prosperity, our national reputation at risk?
But there was a time when Americans were welcomed and respected in the Middle East. More than 50 years ago, the late Wallace Stegner wrote about the bigger-than-life adventures of Americans involved in the pioneering search for oil in the desert frontiers of Arabia, just before and during WWII. The first U.S. edition of this book by the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist is a welcome reminder that ordinary, open-minded, hard-working Americans do have the know-how to negotiate, work through differences, cooperate and partner sucessfully with people of another culture for our mutual benefit. And in "Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil", Stegner manages to gift us with this valuable lesson from America's and Arabia's shared history in a colorful, witty and exciting tale that reads like a novel.

Stegner does an incredible job of encapsulating Saudi-US history by covering a decade in these few hundred pages. His history of the region is peppered with both mundane facts and figures and in-depth characterizations that are part of Stegner's legacy. The author also focuses interestingly on the details of oil exploration and drilling and spends almost an entire chapter on how the men of the oil camp eventually learned how to cap a broken oil well that had caught fire and killed several people.

He also characterizes the people of the time in his descriptive literary way. From the college graduate men trekking through the deserts with their Bedouin guides to the wildcatters - blue collar American men experienced in oil drilling, to the King, royal family, Bedouins and unfamiliar culture and religion of Saudi Arabia in the 1930s.

What is most remarkable about the book is that it forces the reader to accept the idea that the men and women involved in Saudi Arabia's modern historical beginnings were hardworking, trusting, culturally sensitive, family-oriented people whose goal was the mutually beneficial cooperation of two peoples with very little in common.

It is easy to find any book purporting to be a "true" history of the "evil" American oil corporations and their insidious inner dealings with the Al-Saud family on any shelf of a bookstore or college classroom today, particularly after the US's frontpage "failures" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iran.

It is difficult to take such portrayals at face value without seeing their uninformed emotionally charged and frankly mainstream political agenda with its tongue in cheek references.

Drilled into everyone's base emotions today are the binary slogans: Oil company = bad. Capitalism = bad. USA involvement in the Middle East = bad. Unfortunately these statements are all put to shame under the deft hands of Wallace Stegner, whose book was written over 40 years ago.

The ease in accepting the search for Arabian oil as a well-intentioned benign project that can actually be a force of advancement (vs. exploitation say) is borne out of Stegner's careful and emotional portrayals of the personal lives of the people involved. In that small amount of space the reader is forced to reconcile his or her politics on a grand generalistic level and confront the reality of the personal space.

In accepting Stegner's vision the reader must confront his or her own political generalizations about the world and must accept it as a much more complicated beast than some simplistic pedantry regarding good vs. evil. The beauty in the author's writing is his ability to paint this complex vision of two worlds on a collision course with history in such an accessible and poetic manner, yet one which indeed fleshes out this complexity and innocence.

If you are designing a large-scaled web application based on Struts, you should read this book first. Reading this book will help you avoid Struts architectural pitfalls and get a better idea what the Struts framework really offers. The pitfalls discussed in this book are all really insightful ,and the solutions suggested by the authors are well-designed and practical. An excellent pitfalls book!

If you are working with Struts, Ant, or automated unit testing into your development process,
then this is a book for you.
This book looks at the popular Jakarta applications as
JUnit/Cactus, Struts, and Ant, and shows the most common pitfalls when using
these applications. The book gives
a chapter to Ant and one chapter to JUnit/Cactus and rest to Struts.
Most part of the book is on Struts. The authors discuss potential
problems using Actions, ActionForms, and Struts tag library.

Each pitfall has its own section and is formatted the same as the others.
You get a description of each pitfall, an example of the pitfall in action,
and steps for refactoring it. Corrective solutions are well documented with plenty of code samples
to show both before and after images.

This is a good book on anti-patterns and refactoruing, very good companion of the book <> (by Martin Fowler)
and
<>
(this one covers ant and junit/cactus but not struts)

This book is very readable, some may think it just covers obvious problems, actually, it coveres common pitfalls
that most people forget to escape. It's not a difficult book, but very practical.

Whether you're a beginner or an expert on Struts, Ant or JUnit, this book will provide you all the items you should watch out for. And if you're already in trouble with any of these technologies, its very likely that this book has it.

This is an important book. If you're new to any of these tools, don't waste your time hitting the same potholes that everyone else has. The authors took some good notes in trenches, and they present their pitfalls in a structure way that builds one upon another.

I just wish this book was available when I was first getting started with Cactus!? It will be at my elbow as I start my upcoming Struts project.

(The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that I ran across a few typos.)

The book is fine, but it in the back is a boiled down synopsis, about 5 pages, that suffices for the entire book. The rest of the book doesn't really add that much. The material here is good, but is available by reading a few white papers and faq's on the web. I didn't dislike the book, I just wish I hadn't spent the money.

I was going through one of my closets and I came across the book Big Dragon. I read the book eight years ago, and I remember having pause at that time for the huge impact China seemed to represent for the rest of the world. And looking back, all that was said then seems prevalent now. China annually graduates one million college students and they completely dominate the information and engineering fields. This represents two major issues that most people take for granted: 1st. China's domination in those fields camouflages India's important position in those same fields: 2nd. Their competitive nature generates a protectionist American attitude. Chinese students typically graduate high school with five years of physics. Typically, these are students that are recognized in their formative years as promising. And with 800 million candidates the prospects continue to show promise. Public education in the U.S. will be hard pressed for several years, if ever, to match the stellar performance of China. Noticable personalities such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell all worry about America's worldwide educational placement. And because the Chinese population have grown up accustomed to richer levels of competition, they may be better positioned to compete globally. As their ecomony expands and their need for petroleum grows, the price of oil increases, forcing the entire world to take notice. And as their hunger for economic expansion grows, their need to forge alliances with oil rich Western enemies increases. Whether this represents future challenges for Western economies remains to be seen. But in the end, when the full impact of the tenacity with which the Chinese are capable and accustomed to competing is realized; especially in the U.S., the palpability of nationalistic resentment towards China from working class Americans is going to be extremely high.

A very dry but ultimately absorbing book attempting to describe China's place in Asia, the world and in particular its relationship to America and also then the implications of China's economy continuing to grow at a fast rate for the next 20-30 years.

It is now nearly 8 years old since this was first published and so reading it is a little bit like reading old newspapers but the age of the book does not make it irrelevant; we can compare their projections with reality and also see how much has actually changed in terms of what the current state of the relationship between America and China is, what the main concerns are around the world with a rising China and how well the Chinese economy continues to perform.

The authors are obviously experts in China and this is shown in that impressively most of their predictions seem on track. For example, Hong Kong is still relatively a independent territory but as they pointed out its economic importance has diminished in favour of Shanghai - this was sort of predicted by the authors. Also, the so called bankrupt and in dire need of overhaul State owned enterprises are still up and running, still apparently unprofitable and have not (despite some commentators - see strator) collapsed bringing the whole country with them. And finally, the issue de jour of late 90s of the Asian Financial meltdown (when the book was written) has passed and the region has recovered, without bringing the whole continent into the same turmoil seen nations of the old USSR.

As a read this is a pretty dry and you should only bother if you have an interest in the subject. Nonetheless, if you ARE interested in geo-politics and trying to predict where the world's balance of power is going then this book is very good, as borne out by reality 7 years later - maybe the authors will write a follow or a second revision which would be well worth a look.

Written about 5 years ago by a NYC investment banker and a China Mgmt consultancy based in CT, this book is naturally positive towards PRChina. This book covers the end of the second decade of Premier Deng's Reform and Opening to foreign investment. And before the Asian crash of 2000.

The authors' point-of-view is towards the political, sociological, and militarily first, economics second, and corporate investment third. They obliquely discuss US corporate investments, but this is neither a How To book, nor a B-school reader. Many remarks and keylines are more towards an extended discussion of temporal news and the sensational, as opposed to business facts and analysis. Like a fleshed out Neisbitt text of glittering generalities.

The strengths of this book are in interpreting and extended discussion on the how's and why's socialism with Chinese characteristics work as it does. When the Western press lays down emotionally charged words of democracy, free market, entrepreneur, etc, these concepts need careful explanations on what, exactly, this means in the Chinese context and the surrounding business milieu. These explanations, implications, and why they are so, as the reader will discover is quite different from straight Western interpretations.

The first half of the book deals with China history since Mao after WWII. Then Deng's Opening in Chap 2, p47 there is a 2-page discussion on Overseas Ethnic Chinese and their investment into the homeland in the Shenzhen SEZ. On p127, the authors agree that a "Greater China" exists including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the OEChinese business dominated ASEAN countries all cooperating. In Chap 8, they discuss the enormity of the State-Owned-Enterprises which are largely non-performing by western standards, but who employ over 70% of the domestic urban workforce of 170 million people. Many SOEs are producing obsolete products, with a featherbedded workforce, that have been superceded by a market economy in other sectors. The new Premiers Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji appear serious in slowly reforming the SOEs, the bedrock of the socialist empire.

The second half of the book deals with China's problems and issues, starting with Chap 8. Most Western press criticize the apparent lack of responsibility from leaders on these issues, SOEs, banks, SOL, SSI, etc. The authors, in contrast, evaluate this criticism in context of the larger whole and cite how deliberate progress is being made. As illustrated by three entrepreneurial case studies in Part III covering 30 pages, Chinese entrepreneurship is fostered by the Politburo as an experiment to help shore up the SOE profitability. So-called capitalism with Chinese characteristics is fostered in order to quickly develop real estate, along with large OEChinese capital infusions, so that there are suitable industrial parks (SEZ) to attract foreign investment to setup hi-tech manufacturing. The Politburo then covets corporate America with deep pockets in order to gather hard currency, implement new technology, create new jobs, and expand exports to further fund national and educational infrastructure and technology upgrades in SOEs. This conclusion is consistent with Jim Mann's book a decade earlier in "Beijing Jeep," and the authors agree on p90 that for corporate America to be successful in PRChina, it will require both manufacturing and technology transfer to the Chinese JVs. All under the watchful eye and blessing of the Politburo. Pretty crafty!

In Chap14 and 15 The Next Five Years, on p278 significant political and social change will not occur until the Chinese GenX, 5th gens who grew up in a post-Mao era, come to power in about 20 years, about year 2020.

Lets see if any of the author's prophecies came true. While discussed along with MFN status p364, they did not predict that China would win WTO admission in 2001. Also they didn't predict the Millennium crash in Asia, their forecast was for 2004 p341. On p340, they said that the Three Gorges Dam's first generators would turn on in 2003, actual is 2004. On p309, the authors did write about 2 inches on the oil, Persian Gulf, and Islamic issues, but did not predict the US-Iraq War. Pretty myopic vision for globalists? Score is 1 for 4. Not good. There are many more prophesies to 2024, Year of the Dragon, which includes Taiwan's return to the China fold.

In the last Chapter 18, the authors continue harping on US-China Cold-War. They plead that after 30 years, an updated Shanghai Compact 2002 needs to be enacted. I fail to see the significance in ending their book with 20+ pages on the subject, including many shorter US Hawk rampages on the subject spread throughout their text.

The book's rear dust jacket poses 6 fundamental questions on the coming changes in the new world order. These questions must have been written by the editors, because I'd say that the authors did not really specifically address these questions in any detail, read: don't judge a book by its cover, which I read at a local public library.

The authors have 18 Chapters and a 14-page index. Each page has a sidebar quote from important dignitaries, both western and Chinese, hence the inflated 400 page book. There are no tables of World Bank numbers, no pictures or figures or maps. There are 10 pages of Notes, mainly from US / UK periodicals. The Acknowledgement pages give recognition to about 150 people that they interviewed, more than three quarters have Chinese surnames. However, for security reasons, they are not footnoted in the book.

Another one of my highly recommended books is Big Dragon: What it means for Business, the Economy, and the Global Order. Overall, the authors have a good comprehension of China's economic and political structure. However, Big Dragon has one important omission. Although the authors casually mention the economic impact of FDI on China by overseas Chinese, I would have devoted at least one entire chapter to the subject. In fact, the vast majority of foreign investment continues to flow from overseas ethnic Chinese around the world (over 80% of FDI). Along with Taiwan, there are significant ethnic Chinese communities across Southeast Asia. Inspite of the war of words, Taiwan has over $40 billion and growing invested in China. The chances of a hot war between China and Taiwan are minimal. The overseas Chinese FDI permeates throughout China's economy in almost every sector including agriculture, biotech, services, high tech manufacturing, etc. Many Chinese officials that I have spoken to would disagree, but I would argue that China's economic renaissance can primarily be attributed to the skills, technology, and capital provided by the overseas ethnic Chinese across East Asia. The growing informal structural ties between the Chinese communities across East Asia and China illustrate the development of a Greater China with Beijing at its core. China's current government is similar in many respects to the earlier dictatorships of the Park regime in South Korea or the Chiang regime in Taiwan.

This book does what it sets out to do admirably well, although the reaction of certain readers makes it clear that its approach is lacking in certain areas.

This book is a comprehensive but well-focused review of the current political and economic system of China, recent trends in US-China relationship, and the emerging currents in Chinese society that will shape the country in the next quarter century. The book is written primarily from a business perspective, focusing on China's economic and market potentials (forecasted to match the US in total GDP by the 2020's though still much poorer in per capita terms) and the impact of political developments on the business environment. For those readers not yet familiar with contemporary China, this book is a remarkably well-informed primer. But even old China-hands will find the authors' detailed discussion of the probable future of China (some 100 pages are devoted to the section titled "Geomancing the Dragon") thought-provoking even if their own conclusions may vary.

However, the authors sought to instruct as well as inform. And their recommendations for improving US-China relationship - although perfectly sensible - may not persuade the human rights hawks in the US, who may consider arguments on strictly mercantilist terms immoral. But it's no accident that most of those intimately familiar with China are "pro-China" in the sense defined by a previous reviewer. China has plenty of human rights problems, but it has also come a remarkably long way in a amazingly short time. Progress cannot be measured without the context of history, and it's this area that did not receive sufficient treatment. The general normalcy of China today is an accomplishment that cannot be adequately appreciated without greater understanding of 20th century Chinese history.

There are issues of fundamental human rights and there are issues of political organization. While one is certainly entitled to avidly avocate the political system of his or her choice, one should refrain from waging moral crusades when we are all equally human and fallible.

This book is a great book to purchase if you or the person you are buying it for are a cichlid lover! The pages are filled with tons of beautiful colored pictures and the text is not for beginners. This book does NOT discuss how to take care of these types of fish in your personal aquarium. But it does discuss the cichlid's natural habitat, diet, how they reproduce, etc. I bought this book for a cichlid enthusiast not knowing exactly what I was getting in regards of text or amount of pictures, and he loved it!

A beautiful book full of pictures and information about the Cichlids in Lake Tanganyika and the environments they live in. Very interesing, if you are interested in these cichlids, and the best book you can get in the subject.

I purchased this book in order to learn about the Cichlids in my home tank. There is some good detail on diet, habitat and breeding of the different species available commercially but most of the book is devoted to fish in the wild. I would have liked to learn more about what other fish and invertibrates share space with the Cichlids in Lake Tanganyika. Overall a very good read and a keeper for the many well printed photographs which will help me identify fish in the future. I still can't see the difference between a Compressiceps and a Calvus but someday...

If you research the web, you will quickly find this book is recommended as the 'bible' for Tropheus enthusiasts. I found there to be about 10 pages of Trpopheus content. Good stuff, but thats it. Nice pictures and interesting background on the lake itself. Good book - but not if you are interested specifically in Tropheus.

Great book,buy it !
it contains all the information you will ever need regarding Tanganyikan cichlids.

I admit that I purchased this book mostly because it advertised a coupon for a free directory of international employers. When I called the company to order the book, I found out that the directory dates from 1994. Obviously I decided to forgoe paying the $10 to have it shipped to me. Otherwise, I have been diligently trying websites that are listed in the book and many of them no longer exist or have very little useful information for international career listings or other job search aids. This book is to be avoided.

a bible for international working and living
good stuff

This is a good book indeed. However, the description is very misleading.

It is basically compilation of job search engines all over the world. Search as hard as you want, you won't find any info on visas and permits or tips and tricks how to persuade a foreign employer hire you.

You can find it in Google or A9, if you search hard enough. However, this book also gives you brief description of each site. On the downside, web is a dynamic place so many links are outdated or irrelevant.

I wonder if the people that called it a Bible and told that it includes the "dirt of finding jobs" actually read it.

Compiled and written by Daniel Lauber with the assistance of Kraig Rice, International Job Finder: Where The Jobs Are Worldwide is a straightforward presentation with all the facts and all the dirt on jobs that involving living and working abroad. Of special merit is the advice for avoiding international job scams, adapting to the host nation's culture, and safeguarding against anti-American threats. 1,200 of the most effective online and offline resources for finding international jobs on all seven continents make International Job Finder an essential and invaluable resource and reference for anyone serious about job-hunting abroad.

If you want to find an International Job, this book gives you the URLs for job sites in Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Russia, the Middle East, Latin America Canada and Mexico. This book also has a page at the end for you to order a free directory of International Employers. Each URL listing also has a brief summary of the website.

One of my friends teaches English in Russia and she loves her job. Her parents now teach in China. The possibilities are really endless for anyone who wants to travel the world.

If you have been wondering how you could live in an exotic location or just live in another country for a few years at a time to learn about the world, then this book will be very helpful. If you are looking for volunteer teaching opportunities, this book has many resources.

The resort jobs looked tempting although I still have yet to see a job listing that says: "Stay at our resort free and read books all day long." It could happen.

~The Rebecca Review

This is an enjoyable book that combines concrete information and statistics, history, and very interesting anecdotes about what lands on the dinner table. The voyages and cultural context of meals past and present are discussed in a well-written work that is fun to read. Most readers will probably have an "I never knew that!" experience while reading. For those of us that love to read, what could be better?

I found this to be an insightful, entertaining and well-written book that provides some of the human context to the debate over the carbon footprint of the food we eat. There are some shrill and ultimately uninformed voices out there: Sarah's is not one of them.

Just bought this book last week, and I couldn't put it down. As a history buff, I really enjoyed discovering how much of an impact the food trade has had on the world we live in. Through many lively stories, the author takes you all over the world. I particularly liked the chapter on the Berlin airlift, I had never realized how much what was essentially a humanitarian mission to feed people in West Berlin ended up having such a political significance. There are many other amazing stories in this book, and we should all realize, in the end, all that really matters it what we eat!

"Food transport" sounds like a prosaic topic for a book but this work is the product of an intellectually curious mind. Sarah Murray has gone to great lengths to bring readers this entertaining and highly informative read; eating fermented mare's milk in Mongolia, squeezing into crowded train compartments with the Tiffin Wallas of India, and joining a flight crew for an emergency food drop from a UN World Food Transport plane.

My favorite chapter was the author's fascinating retelling of the Berlin Airlift. A topic that most of us learned at school is brought new life and energy by the author's in-depth interviews with the pilots who brought off this logistically flawless operation.

For anybody interested in history, economics, and how capitalism both solves and creates problems, I recommend, "Moveable Feasts." If you liked Tom Friedman's "The World Is Flat," you'll love this book.

With a disarming combination of humor, insight and expertise, Sarah Murray tells a wonderful story -- or rather, a bunch of stories - of how food moves. Studded with fascinating examples, she ranges effortlessly from ancient Rome to modern Bombay to show how the movement of food has shaped history, as well as our own times. To be honest, this is not a question I had considered before; since reading this book, though, I find myself looking at the grocery shelves with new appreciation. Moreover, Murray makes a real contribution to the debate over "food miles," arguing persuasively it makes much more sense to look at the life cycle of food production, rather than just how many miles an item has traveled, when judging its environmental impact.
Highly recommended: Foodies, of course, will love it, but so should anyone interested in history and the environment.

This book is easy to read and PACKED with valuable information, tips, cautions, and phone numbers. This book is concise and thorough. I particularly appreciated Pencak's checklists for importing. This book has been more helpful than any other book on importing I've found. Pencak includes important phone numbers as well as information on how and and when to use these contacts. Excellent resource!

This book proved to be a source for concise, thorough and practical information presented in a logical and professional manner. It is a guide that not only teaches but will always be invaluable as a tool for ensuring each step is taken towards a successful (profitable) import. If you are considering entering the world of importing you have to read this book; you'll be glad you did!

This book contains all the basic info one will need written concisely and completely. Great Book for the first time importer. Takes out all the confusion.Buy It!

Perhaps I was under the wrong impression when I bought this, I thought it had general advice on importing, things like "where to find the best silk in China" and some personal anecdotes. Since it wasn't really reading material, per se, but more like a book for lawyers or a reference for someone already importing stuff or about to, I wasn't really impressed. I suppose that for someone needing the hard facts, rules, regs, etc, then this would be a good book, but if you're looking for an easy to read, filled with advice kind book, look elsewhere.

This book is short and to the point. With lots of good references and anecdotal information. Unlike the other fluffy books which spend tons of pages on how to build the business, this one is focusing on the regulation and actual importing to the USA. The only book around with this type of focus. Great!

If you still believe that the US is the epitome of free trade, this book is for you. (If you don't, this could be for use as ammunition) This book chronicles the harm of protectionism (higher prices) and the many shams put on by the US government in the name of old fashioned protectionism. Whether it's farms, textiles or industrial goods, Bovard highlights the problems and perils of protectionism - by whatever name it goes by.

The only big issue is the book's date - 1992. A lot has happened since then in both free trade, and unfree trade. (It would be interesting to know Bovard's take on NAFTA and the recent steel tariffs) For even more politically tense works, you can read his more current bookes.

James Bovard is in my view the most objective, incisive investigative journalist on the planet (past or present). Like Freedom In Chains, Lost Rights, Feeling your Pain, Terrorism and Tyranny, The Bush Betrayal, and Shakedown(How the Govt screws you from A to Z), James is a master at identifying the criminal excesses of government operating outside the bounds of the Constitution sub calore juris, sub pretexto juris. James also provides enoough documentation to engender the hatred of the collectivist-socialist members of both houses of Congress and the collectivist-socialist media who would burn him at the stake for exposing them if it were possible for them to do so.
If readers want to view a long list of abuses and usurpations which identify "what the Government is doing to us", who is responsible and why, like Lemming we are all marching over the proverbial cliff followng the leader while ignoring the greatness we once almost achieved under an almost laissez faire Capitalist system, read all of James Bovards books. he is the best!

So say I,

Dr. Robert Ingram Powell, Ph.D.
w6vro@msn.com

Bovard does a great job exposing protectionist idiocy, and his writing style makes a somewhat dry subject interesting.

The main thesis of this book is great and perfectly worth the effort that Bovard has made in exposing a real problem. However, you have surely never read a more repetitive book in your life. Here Bovard tackles the inefficiency and capriciousness of US "free trade" laws and the bizarre politics at the Commerce department. US trade officials make an art of penalizing foreign companies for behavior that US companies are subsidized to commit, and have attitudes toward imports that we pledge to go to war to prevent in other countries. All the rhetoric about "free" trade from politicians is swamped by protectionism in real life, with unfair and often ridiculous consequences. For example, politically motivated tariffs against imported steel, designed to save a few jobs in the American steel-production industry, have destroyed a far larger number of jobs in American steel-using industries.

Once again, the points here are excellent but the book isn't. First, Bovard is prone to blanket statements and polemics like "The U.S. International Trade Commission is a loose cannon on the shipdeck of the American economy." Worst of all, Bovard's main point of argument is the fact that there are thousands of extremely arbitrary and unfair trade sanctions in US trade relations. That's good to know, but Bovard apparently feels the need to explain just about every one of them in a ridiculously repetitive fashion. Bovard's main points could be made much more effectively in an in-depth magazine article, rather than a rambling 300+ page book that becomes a never-ending and mind-numbing list of numbers and regulations. Bovard apparently doesn't notice that he makes the same point several hundred times. [~doomsdayer520~]

I bought the book because Bovard clearly wasn't one of the two-week Okura Experts. For those not familiar with the local jargon, Okura Experts are Washington, D.C. appointees who run our trade policy based on a two week stay at the Okura, a luxury hotel near the American Embassy in Tokyo.

Like me, Bovard has been in the trenches and seen trade issues in Japan face-to-face. If you are willing to discard your media managed notions about how Japan cheats and is unfair on trade and look at the whole picture, this book is well worth the read.

Bovard is neither an apologist nor a basher, but I'll guarantee that if you read this book, you will never look at trade issues in the same way again.

This is a fully illustrated short story book about a couple of a rabbits, one good and one a nasty one who bullies the good rabbit. The bad rabbit attacks the Good rabbit and steals his carrot. In turn, the fierce rabbit ended up with losing tails and whiskers when a hunter approached him.

Though short, it's a good book for young kids, equip with moral nurturing story and a fully illustrated pages to company the story. Most kids would love this book, but personally when I was one, I love a bit more longer of a story than this one.

My sons love this book, and they think it is quite funny -- precisely because the Fierce Bad Rabbit gets his comeuppance from a hunter. It's an old-fashioned approach, in that, the rabbit pays the consequences for his bad behavior: he loses his tail, his whiskers, and the carrot he swiped. The illustrations are great. A note on content, since another reviewer mentioned the Roly-Poly Pudding Tale of Samuel Whiskers. My 5-year-old found Samuel Whiskers MUCH more disturbing than this straightforward story. Beatrix Potter's world, from another era, is interesting and entertaining.

This is a very cute story about how being good and being bad has different outcomes. This would teach a very important lesson for young children to learn. The illustrations are also very cute, showing exactly what you'd picture the story being. The good, innocent rabbit is just sitting there with his little carrot, happy to have it to eat. A bad, fierce rabbit is hiding in the bushes, just waiting to pounce on the sweet, little rabbit. All of a sudden, he pounced! That poor sweet one had to go running and hide in a cave. Seeing what happens to the fierce, bad rabbit is very Beatrix Potter like. It is so sweet how it ends, how being good always works out and being bad isn't always going to go your way, no matter what you think.
~Camille

i am a big fan of the fierce bad rabbit, as well as all of beatrix potters works. However, the main characters are better, ( i'm very fond of bunnies) and the outcome and plot are less distrubing than the whole rolly-polly pudding thing, and the patty-pan. Still, one must wonder what social allagorie does "the man with the gun afford". Buy this book, get the whole series, they really are very nice to read, and if you think it would be detrimental to your maturity, buy it for a younger sibling, nephew, niece, cousin, etc. and see if you can bring yourself to give it away. I bet you won't be able to, and if you can, than there is something big wrong with your head...

"The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit" is one of Beatrix Potter's weirder children's books. The plot is set in motion when the nasty title character attacks another rabbit and steals his carrot.

This book is a violent and surreal morality tale. It's not one of my favorite Potter books. A warning to parents: gun violence is depicted in this tale.

Undoubtably the best I have read. Although stated fiction I feel it was a lot of his personal experiences. A sad time for America, all that lived through it will always remember it. History changes as time progresses but the honor pride and men of honor that stood and fought this war can never be forgotten. They did what was expected for their country and all that stood next to them in their fearless ways. God bless them all and through novels like this we can remember them in our minds and hearts.

While this novel is not on the level of timeless literature, it is a compelling read filled with interesting characters, a serpentine plot, and lots of sex and violence, underpinned by a sharply critical perspective on the Vietnam misadventure. As you read it, you cannot help thinking of "Iraq." Example: "This is an enemy we cannot defeat and an ally we cannot prop."
Adding to the tragic nature of this novel is the fact that its author, a Vietnam veteran, was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his wife and now serves a life sentence for the crime. A riveting documentary on the case "The Staircase" is available on dvd and is highly recommended.

QUICK! Somebody grab Oliver Stone!! This book is the literary equivalent to Stone's Platoon, and on many levels superior! The characters are vivid. The scenery makes you feel like you're actually there, and the situations aren't so far fetched to make you doubt their plausibility. Peterson's biggest asset is his characterization. When a character is killed, you actually feel sorry for him. When two main characters are married, you feel tears of joy running down your face. The visualness makes you feel the action is unraveling on a big screen in front of you! Mr. Stone (or anybody in Hollywood, for that matter) had better hurry. I can see the film adaptation of this book becoming just as big a blockbuster as the book was a best seller!

A powerful, moving (and fast-moving) drama of the Vietnam War with well-drawn and motivated characters,a compelling historical context, and the pace of a thriller. Much more like War & Remembrance (Wouk) or Armageddon (Uris) than like the typical Vietnam War novel. I highly recommend it.

If you're looking for a Vietnam War novel, but you don't want to wade in too deep, this is perfect lightweight fare. Think of it as a cross between Tom Clancy and Graham Greene (see Orrin's review of The Quiet American)--with the civil servant as superhero trying to navigate a moral cesspool. Bradley Lawrence Marshall is the blue blood, war hero, diplomat who is sent to Vietnam as the personal emissary of President Johnson, to find a way out. In country, he meets with real figures like General Westmoreland, who tries to convince him everything is copacetic. But he also meets folks like: his driver, Corporal Mead, a decent though violent American lad of ambiguous sexuality, who is sick of the war; Lacouture, a flamboyant, Guy Burgess-like, Frenchman who sells information to all sides and loves Mead; and the insidious CIA station chief, Wilson Abbot Lord, who lives to fight the Communists and, fearing that Marshall will end the war, plots to kill him. And it's all set against the backdrop of the Tet Offensive.

The whole premise, of Johnson and a bureaucrat secretly planning an exit strategy, doesn't withstand much scrutiny and the stereotypes and clichés run rampant. But taken on its own terms, as a sort of politico-military potboiler with only mild pretensions of addressing issues in any serious way, it succeeds pretty well. It's certainly a more diverting read than many of the more critically acclaimed novels of the war.